Sore Hocks - Flooring suggestions

Hi. I only discovered this forum at the weekend and I'm finding the info really helpfull I have 2 buns, both coming up 2 yrs old and currently live indoors in a large 2 storey condo. At the moment, the bottom is carpeted and the top is covered with a bamboo mat. I have noticed that one of my buns has a sore hock probably due to the carpet In the past, I've tried vetbed, cotton bathmats, rubber backed pet rugs but my two munch on ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING!!! :roll: They don't bother much with the carpet because its fitted edge to edge. Does anyone have any suggestions of a good flooring? I've thought maybe thick cardboard - the corrigated type or perhaps cusion floor/lino type flooring?? :? I did try covering the carpet with straw but it confused them into thinking that they had a new HUGE litter tray :lol: Snowball - my girl has recentley also had a sore bottom (better now) and the vet seems to think that this could had been caused by carpet abrasion so I really do need to change the flooring. Any suggestions??

Thanks in advance

Hayley

I know it would be very messy but i dont think you can beat a very deep layer of wood chips in there cages when there in there. I prusume there in there most of the day?. Its one of the problems of having rabbits in the house, they tend to get to warm and dont have the right kind of ground to run on. Someone will no dought come up with something. val

I use lino on the bottom of my cages. It is very easy to clean and comfy on their feet. And when my buns are sick of sitting on the lino they sit on their beds or litter boxes

xxx

I have tarpaulin in one area, and hay over newspaper in another. Both surfaces are smooth and easy to clean - I change the newspaper every day and the tarp can be easily wiped down. She's litter trained so it's not hard to keep clean anyway. Even when she does shred the newspaper, it's just so easy to replace.

my continental giant Leela had sore hocks on both her back feet (she was albino with very fine hair which im sure contributed to the appearance of these..as did the fact she was a very big girl!) my vet recomended she was kept on lino and encouraged to exercise as much as possibal. he also gave her an oral painkiller that we had to syringe feed her with once a day (8 kilo rabbit..who did not want to take her medicine...oh boy! did we have fun! :wink: ) to help encourage her to run around.
i was also told to gently wash her sores after she had been in the garden to stop anything working its way into them.
personaly i found the adition of a soft dog bed where she could sit to be very helpful in allowing the sores to heal.

Thanks for the tips.....lino it is then! The only problem I have, If I put a soft dog bed in or anything similar, they take great pleasure in chewing them to bits and I'm worried about them ingesting anything. I dont like the idea of wood chips/shavings because of the phenols - I use wood based pellets in the litter tray.

Hayley

Hi,

quick update..........got a big offcut of extra thick, non slip lino for £5!!! Did both levels of the cage last night and put a couple of peices of vetbed down - it looked really snug and they both seemed very happy :wink: Got up this morning to a vetbed blizzard :shock: They'd ripped it to smitherenes and piddled all over it :roll: Now vetbed is out of the question, will they be ok just on lino?? It doesn't appear very comfy :?

Hayley

luvhandles said:

Hi,

quick update..........got a big offcut of extra thick, non slip lino for £5!!! Did both levels of the cage last night and put a couple of peices of vetbed down - it looked really snug and they both seemed very happy :wink: Got up this morning to a vetbed blizzard :shock: They'd ripped it to smitherenes and piddled all over it :roll: Now vetbed is out of the question, will they be ok just on lino?? It doesn't appear very comfy :?

Hayley

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How about a hard plastic dogbed lined with newspaper and filled with hay? Or just large trays of hay to give them an alternative to the lino if they want it.

They already have a huge littertray with woodpellets at the bottom then filled with hay......they do seem to be liking the lino however